Wed 3rd June, 12 – 1 pm, Rm 312.222

Abstract

Much of our knowledge about the driving forces of plate tectonics is derived from analyzing present-day Earth. However, reconstructing the motions of the Earth’s tectonic plates over geological timescales provides fundamental insights into the nature of geodynamic processes plate-driving forces. Plate motions during Pangea breakup are well constrained by the record of seafloor spreading. This presentation will illustrate how quantitative analysis of these reconstructions helps us to understand the history of relative and absolute plate motions, and plate boundary processes, at a global scale.

Bio:

Simon Williams joined the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney in January 2010. He obtained a PhD in geophysics from the University of Leeds, having completed a degree in geology at Liverpool University. From 2004 to 2009 he worked as a geophysicist at GETECH in the UK, a potential-field geophysics consultancy. Since arriving in Sydney, his research has encompassed various aspects of plate tectonic reconstructions, geodynamics, and machine learning. He was also chief scientist aboard a 2011 voyage of the CSIRO research vessel Southern Surveyor, which collected new magnetic profiles, swath bathymetry data and dredge samples in the Perth Abyssal Plain, eastern Indian Ocean.